hundt

11 ms·

61.
by hundt 8y ago
These numbers seem very high to me! Do you have a source? Here's one sounding the alarm that medicare spending has gone as high as 14% of federal spending and may reach 20% in the next 25 years: https://www.pgpf.org/bud
62.
by hundt 8y ago
> Since apparently I'm Wrong(TM) does anyone want to tell me why? I think because some devices are designed such that incidental contact with neutral (before the load) is possible under normal circumstances, which means (if the inte
63.
by hundt 8y ago
Do you live in the United States? It doesn't sound like it. This is not the way things work.
64.
by hundt 8y ago
That article is referring to a different breed of free service.
65.
by hundt 8y ago
As the article makes clear, this is not a unilateral ban on competing with tax prep software companies, but rather a deal (pre-existing but now codified into law) in which the companies agree to provide free tax prep software to low-incom
66.
by hundt 8y ago
> I have no idea if there's an efficient way to scale beef If you're interested, https://twitter.com/drsplace is a good follow. She writes and cites a lot on this topic (because she is employed by the beef indu
67.
by hundt 8y ago
I mean, the license could have a nondisclosure/confidentiality agreement, right? That wouldn't be a full substitute for copyright though. For example, if they broke the contract and distributed the code I don't think you coul
68.
by hundt 8y ago
From his comment: "There was other info in the document that I don't think is newsworthy and probably is not worth releasing publicly." He doesn't literally say it, but I think the implication is that the information is
69.
by hundt 8y ago
> Filing status and dependent information is a small fraction of the information content of a tax return, so having you file just that would itself be simpler than asking you to file a tax return True, although that was just one example.
70.
by hundt 8y ago
> That's all data that the IRS either has already or can collect more simply. How can the IRS collect information on your filing status and family/dependent situation that would be simpler than just asking you to file a tax ret
71.
by hundt 8y ago
Even if this is true, most people don't know how boring their taxes are until someone tells them. So the argument is that by making it easier to falsely believe no special cases apply to them, more people will file their taxes incorrec
72.
by hundt 8y ago
You don't have to guess :) About 26.5 million had losses or gains from sale of property (of which stock trades is the simplest case). Stock trades are also reported to the IRS, although the basis often isn't.
73.
by hundt 8y ago
First of all, no self-employed taxpayer ("contractor income via 1099") could have an accurate return prepared by the IRS because the IRS won't know their expenses. But secondly there's a lot more to taxes than just incom
74.
by hundt 8y ago
42M out of 150M tax returns filed in 2015 had taxable interest (1099-INT) https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-individual-inco...
75.
by hundt 8y ago
Incorrect. Here are some numbers: https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-individual-stat... They don't have this category exactly, but it is clear that that there are many more than "a few other cases&q
76.
by hundt 8y ago
They are induced to show up somewhere to prepare their taxes, either a professional tax preparer or a volunteer trained by the IRS[1]. I imagine they would probably lose the free option. It's true that they would still have the paid op
77.
by hundt 8y ago
Excellent point. I responded to your other comment on this thread.
78.
by hundt 8y ago
Oh, good catch. The IRS instructions on valuing charitable gifts of stock supports your interpretation: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p561#idm140501157972816 > determining the value of large blocks of stock usua
79.
by hundt 8y ago
It's at least little bit fishy that you can get a $500 million deduction for giving away stock that is never worth $500 million to anyone (since giving it away tanked the sale price, and selling it would presumably drive it down even f
80.
by hundt 8y ago
I know someone that had the same thing happen. They tried to return it but the bank employee insisted it was impossible.
81.
by hundt 8y ago
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-09-03/should-do...
82.
by hundt 8y ago
Maybe Google just doesn't want to profit directly from the problem?
83.
by hundt 8y ago
I also think that, when I think of the beneficiaries of the giving as real people and not abstract "lives improved/saved," then "donate now" seems more compelling. Certainly I could not tell a potential beneficiary
84.
by hundt 8y ago
Here[1] is a court opinion mentioning at least one type of evidence that was excluded: testimony regarding OfficeMax's accounting of rewards that would show that the rewards were not "property" that could be stolen. Not sure
85.
by hundt 9y ago
> No sense turning this battery example into an insurance thread. aww
86.
by hundt 9y ago
Ah, interesting, I didn't read that to include gasoline but I see how one could argue that it does. The Erie policy has no such language. In any case, thanks for the responses. My gut reaction is to agree with you that a lot of these &
87.
by hundt 9y ago
I challenge you to find one documented case of the death of a child, of any age, from any number of stuffed animals up to 5 being allowed in the crib during sleep :) I once spent a bunch of time chasing references from the AAP and others, a
88.
by hundt 9y ago
I looked, but I don't see anything like that. The exclusions for smoke and water damage do not apply to "sudden and accidental" losses but the pollution one does. And it does not limit it to contamination of the environment.
89.
by hundt 9y ago
Any other specific examples you care to share of things that you were surprised to find would not be covered?
90.
by hundt 9y ago
> The insurance texts posted downthread don't actually seem that "damning" to me. They talk about chemicals etc in a blanket sense. If insurance companies were worried about the gas can for your lawn mower, they would come

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